Conferences, CAD, and Crowdfunding
Dearest Lobstah Community, We hope your 2026 is going well! Here’s what we’ve been up to lately:
Lobstahs @ SLAS
Last week, Team 246 attended an annual Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) conference and presented our robot, and what we do in FRC, to thousands of attendees! Additionally, students had the opportunity to wander around and learn more about lab automations and processes from industry professionals.
“It was such a cool experience talking to engineers in their element. Even when presenters learned that I wasn’t from a company, they still took the time to explain everything and answer all the questions I had. I got to test out a 3d mouse, see magnetic test tube stirrers, learn about pneumatically operated sample creation systems, and so much more!!! This was such an incredible opportunity.” -Coco ‘26
Our team discussing lob-gistics with conference-goers, feat. a sneak peek of our lovely, to-be-named robot.
Build Season Updates
Dearest friends, ‘tis CAD season! The Lobstahs have been hard at work these last couple weeks designing our robot in Computer-Aided Design (CAD), bringing our sketches and discussions to life, piece-by-piece. Here’s a glimpse of the design and fabrication processes:
Our most updated CAD design for the robot (as of Feb. 15th)
Pictured above is our robot design “blueprint.” There are four main mechanisms: the intake, drivebase, indexer, and shooter. The intake, created by Teddy Shi ‘27, is a six bar extending intake with interlocking mechanisms. The indexer, created by Sharon Xiong ‘27 and Nate Magoun ‘27, is nicknamed the “spindexer” because it works by spinning the balls to feed into the shooter. The shooter, created by Sabina Sandrasaga ‘28 has a hood that adjusts through what essentially works as a curved rack-and-pinion. The drivebase was a team effort, made by contributors already listed as well as Coco Mueller ‘26, Coco Shen ‘27 (double coco trouble!), and Danesh Moghadaszadeh ‘29.
1003 and 1004 Tube Drawing
An example of how Design work transitions into Fabrication is our CAD Drawings! Our design team exports every piece into a 2d representation with dimensions, which are then printed out, manufactured, and quality checked by the fabrication team. Pictured above are identical parts 1003 and 1004, which make up part of the frame rail.
Stay tuned to see our CAD robot become a competition robot as our Fabrication team takes the wheel!
A Successful Crowdfunding Season
Lastly, thank you all so very much for your contributions this crowdfunding season. In total, we were able to raise over $8,000 in just a couple months! With your help, we'll be able to afford essential materials and components, make long-term investments in durable parts, and participate in many competitions throughout the season.
Thank you for all of your support! If you are interested in how to get involved or have any questions, you can email us at lobstahbots@gmail.com and we would be happy to respond!
Merry Build Season,
The Lobstah Bots
Psst…in case you haven’t already, check out the official FRC game animation to see how our designs might come into play:
